Think about a shallow tide pool that is subject to enormous changes in salinity, temperature, and water level. Now try to imagine the deepest, coldest, darkest part of the ocean, which is over 36,000 feet underwater. The open ocean covers nearly 70% of our entire planet, with an incredible abundance of all kinds of life.

In doing some research for an upcoming floor program on the different ocean animals and the zones of the ocean they live in, I read about an amazing program called the Census of Marine Life, which is a ten year project to try and document life in the ocean from all different locations and depths. The ultimate goal of the project was to develop a better understanding of the ocean and its inhabitants by researching the number of species, where they live, and how many live there. It is hard enough to try and keep track of a few fish in a fish tank, let alone to try and document all the species in the ocean!

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